Somewhere Along Those Lines
by BakuraSenov
Summary: Out on an afternoon stroll, Bartimaeus finds himself surrounded by Resistance members. Not only is he captured... full summary inside BartimaeusxNathaniel. YAOISHOUNENAI!


Hello everyone! Well, I finally decided to type up this story I've had in my head for the last… Oh I don't know, like… year! Anyways, many of these ideas came from the Role-plays I set up on another website. Here's some information on the story:

Title: Somewhere Along Those Lines

Summary: Bartimaeus has gotten himself caught, after being ordered by Nathaniel to explore the city for anything suspicious. And to make matters worse, this is far from something he can get out of alone. He is trapped by two members of the Resistance, Kitty and Nick, in an essence-draining cage, used in the first book to imprison him for information. Only this time, he has no Jabor or Faquarl to save him this time. Only Nathaniel and Queezle. The Resistance now have the ultimate weapon, a djinni, which could cause far more damage than anything they will ever steal. And to make matters worse, they know Bartimaeus's name, thanks to Nathaniel's last encounter with them. While he had been unconscious, he had muttered Bartimaeus name!

Genre: Romance, Humor, and more!

Couple: BartimaeusxNathaniel

Setting: Takes place between books 1 and 2, among those years Nathaniel tortures Bartimaeus. Or so we think.

Any Warnings: May end up rated M, but it's staying T for now, just to be safe. THIS IS YAOI/SHOUNEN-AI, SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, only the ideas!

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Chapter 1: The Summoning

_Nathaniel_

When Nathaniel thought of being in the government, he certainly had no idea how much work it would be. He was working just about every night till well past midnight, got a few hours of sleep and then started working again. The demons he summoned were completely useless; they would often times come back without the information he required. It was infuriating. In many ways, he wanted Bartimaeus to be there, only because the djinn actually got the information he needed. Then again, the young magician hardly needed Bartimaeus's attitude right now.

"Sir?" A small, squeaky voice said from the door.

Nathaniel looked up from his work, recognizing the voice of one of the few imps he trusted, Narci. "Yes, Narci?" the magician said, allowing the other entrance.

"So far, it's been awfully quiet outside, sir," Narci said softly, flying inside the large room. Narci was no more than 4 inches tall, a beautiful sky blue coloring with leather-like wings that allowed her to move quickly and efficiently.

"No signs of anything suspicious?"

"No sir."

"Then you are free to do as you please."

"Sir, I wanted to ask a favor… I'm a bit tired… can you please dismiss me?"

Nathaniel pondered that for a moment before muttering the dismissal spell. He sighed, adjusting a few of the many papers on his oak desk. He had to admit, life without Bartimaeus was quite boring. He almost-ALMOST- missed him. Currently, there had been a lot of attacks on the Parliament building, all failing because of his security. But they seemed to just keep on coming, why? Who knew?

All things considered, Nathaniel hadn't been able to find a djinni or any sort of creature that was reliable enough for him to keep summoning. He must've gone through thousands of books to find the perfect djinni or infrit, but so far he had had no luck. One of the most recent events included his hair catching on fire and a large quantity of his oak bed. He spent quite a bit of money to repair both of those objects, and he was quite angry with the infrit he had summoned.

Nathaniel tapped the quill in his hand impatiently, no longer having the energy or brainpower to try and do any of this paper work. It all had to do with larger taxes, and getting rid of even more rights for the commoners. Everyone around him seemed more than willing to take down the commoners all together, but Nathaniel couldn't see why. The commoners did a lot for them, providing food, clothes and other necessities. The magician would never voice these opinions of course, there was too much at stake if he opened his mouth.

Back on the task at hand, he had a lot to get done. He stood from his cushy, burgundy colored chair, crossing the large, purely white room to where the 2 summoning circles lay. He glanced over at the bookshelf; he would hardly need a book to summon him.

Quickly putting out all the materials he would need, Nathaniel stepped into the pentacle, the sound from his shoes echoing off the tile floor and all around the room. He quickly said the spell in a clear, booming voice. His voice had gotten deeper in the last year or so, and he had to admit he sounded much more threatening then before, or so he thought.

The pentacle opposite of him was covered in smoke, which he guessed was part of the djinni's grand entrance. Once the smoke cleared, he saw a large chimera with a lion's head, a goat's body and a dragon's tail. It would be frightening for any magician to see such a deadly creature. However, knowing who this idiot was, Nathaniel had no fear.

Bartimaeus narrowed his eyes at the boy, "Natty?" he asked in an amazingly calm voice.

"Yes, Bartimaeus. It's me."

"Why you little prick! You went back on our word!" the djinni growled, glaring daggers at the boy with his blood red eyes.

"Please change into something more civil," Nathaniel said, "And yes, I did go back on our word because I need your help."

"You're not getting it."

"Yes, I am. Or you're going to be facing the Shriveling Fire."

"You forget I know your name and I can avoid such a fate," Bartimaeus said with a smug look.

"One week, and I swear you'll be off," Nathaniel bargained.

"Let me hear what it is I have to do, and then I'll agree to it. I don't trust you, kid," Bartimaeus said, while shape shifting into his favorite form, Ptolemy, "The last time you said that, I ended up almost getting killed by a creature 50 times my size."

"I agree I should've been more careful in that situation with Lovelace," Nathaniel admitted with a sigh, and then continued, "I just need you to watch over the Parliament tower. And look out for the Resistance."

"That's it? Now wait a second, you mentioned these Resistance guys last time. Aren't they trying to get rid of magicians all together?"

"Precisely. Which is why we need to capture them and get rid of them."

"Fine. One week of just watching over that stupid tower and for the Resistance, and then I'm gone. And you are not allowed to summon me again."

"Deal. That's your first order: Bartimaeus, I want you to watch over the Parliament Tower and stop any suspicious creatures, human or demon, from approaching it unless authorized. Report anything directly to me."

"Yeah, Natty. I heard you the first time," Bartimaeus said, before shape shifting into a black raven with blood red eyes. He flew out of the large window, disappearing into the pitch-black night sky.

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All right, that was chapter one! If you guys want me to give you a link to the role play I have of this, feel free to email me at with the subject B&N RP, and I'll send it to you. If I get a lot of requests, then I'll stick it up on this chapter in the beginning. That's what I'm going off of, but I don't want you to get too obsessed over reading the role play. I'll be adding a few things of my own.

Please R&R!


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